Eric Garcetti

May 2013

Meet our DMO of the Month, Los Angeles Mayor-Elect Eric Garcetti

It was Eric Garcetti who, as DMO Chairman first imagined the "DMO of the Month” award as a means of highlighting the diversity of municipal officials we represent, while showcasing local success. Eric Garcetti, better than anyone, understands that our cities are laboratories for government innovation. It is no surprise that Angelenos just elected him to lead their city in these trying but exciting times.

As DMO’s immediate Past Chairman and now, Chair Emeritus, Eric Garcetti led DMO from an organization of 400, to 6000. He not only grew our membership ten-fold, but our fundraising as well. Under his leadership we established State Chapters in 35 states and developed a strong, engaged and dynamic Board of Directors that is taking DMO the next steps. While doing all this, he was focused first at home.

As a City Council member and Council President, neighborhoods in his district including Hollywood, Echo Park, Silver Lake and Atwater Village have been dramatically revitalized. The Los Angeles Chamber of Commerce ranks Eric’s council district number one in job growth. Eric worked to cut violent crime by 2/3, triple the number of parks in his district, and ensure an after school program for every school. Citywide, Eric stepped forward when others wouldn’t to make the tough decisions on pension reform and balancing the budget, and he created the city’s independent ratepayer advocate to serve as a watchdog over the Department of Water and Power (DWP). Further, Eric…

· Authored the nation's widest-reaching green building ordinance, the nation's largest local clean water initiative, and legislation leading to the nation’s largest solar rooftop program to create healthier neighborhoods and position L.A. for clean technology and energy jobs;

· Spearheaded the nation's largest housing trust fund, the nation's first tenant foreclosure eviction moratorium and an ordinance to fine banks $1,000 a day when they neglect foreclosed homes and create neighborhood blight;

· Created an innovative graffiti census and resident "block captain" program that cut graffiti in his district by almost 80 percent and was recognized as a finalist for the National League of Cities' Award for Municipal Excellence;

· Deployed License 123 on his website, creating for the first time a single place people can go to find the various paperwork needed to open a business;

· Deployed the city's first constituent services "smart phone app," which allows residents to snap a picture of graffiti or a pothole and report them for city action anytime, anywhere – no waiting on hold and no call center infrastructure. The phone's GPS automatically sends location information;

· Launched an innovative program to keep parks open late at night, staffed and with programs during the summer when school is out. Today, more than 700,000 youth are served and gang crime is down 40% at 32 citywide locations;

· Created groundbreaking agreements with LAUSD to open school fields to the community during non-school hours. In order to efficiently increase green space, agreements called for the district and the city to share costs for facilities to be used by both LAUSD students and community members;

· Directly engaged his constituents in city government by creating the LAND initiative, Clean and Connected Communities, and other efforts that allow residents to choose which neighborhood projects should be funded by the city. Also established leadership courses like Government 101, Budget 101 and Land Use 101 that have trained over 1,000 Angelenos to advocate for their communities;

· Helped put 800 more LAPD officers on the street and stopped the plan to furlough officers;

· Stopped LAFD from being cut by more than 300 firefighter positions;

Eric never stops moving forward. He is a visionary and a rising star. He inspires us with a model of what government can look like when it is responsive, transparent, innovative, and intelligent. We are thrilled to name our very own Chair Emeritus and Los Angeles Mayor-Elect Eric Garcetti, our DMO of the Month!